A stupid question...

[loopy]

And before you say it, yes, I know there are no stupid questions, only stupid people. :)

I was just wondering-- so many Tarot decks are Pagan-based, so why do they include a Devil card? I know everyone has different beliefs, but I was pretty sure that the majority of Pagans don't believe in the devil? (Guessing, guessing, don't attack please)

[Lavender]

Hey! Great question! I never thought of it that way.

[Myst]

Tarot cards started in the hands of the gypsies... it is believed the devil's image came from a Pagan God in the beginnings (ie. Pan, who was mate of Diana, aka Fauna and Faunus, aka Lucifer and Diana, aka Cernunnos or Hernes or Silvanus or Dianus etc.)..
the Horned One... he was a big guy with the Gypsies :) (father of Aradia I believe)

[loopy]

Oh. So why do non-gypsy people stick with the image for Tarot today? Tradition?

[Myst]

Presumably. Usually decks are based (tho sometimes loosely) on the Rider Waite deck.

Some decks don't have devil cards.

[rantnraven]

Most decks that contain this card refer to it as (15) The Horned One or, Cernunnos. This was the Protector of the Animals and the God of the hunt. Pan often portrayed this roll as he, too, was a Horned God. It was the onslaught of Christianity (no offence to our Christian members) that portrayed Pan, Cernunnos and, any other Horned God as an evil one - destroyer of crops and the King of Chaos. It was this ideology that was to turn the Pagani (Latin for People of the Country) towards Christianity. The evolution of Tarot, to my understanding, began with Runes. Christians, willing to do just about anything to save the Pagans, introduced Tarot decks that included "The Devil" rather then The Horn One. The Devil was to bestow fear in the hearts of Pagans thus turning them to Christianity. However, some Pagans adopted the idea of The Devil card to invoke a firmer belief, in Tarot, by Christians that came for readings.

In all wars, the strongest enemy is fear.

RnR

[Myst]

It should also be noted that when Christianity became the rule Gypsies incorporated it into their beliefs as a whole (ie. Stregheria).

[Silver Venus]

Ive often thought about the same issues! :) .. and agree.. also think the Devil is there as a pun, a play on the devil, I think he is supposed to be a naughty trickerster which if called something like the fool could be too easily confused so thats why he's the devil.
Its so great to be back :D